# Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117 "2009-07-24T13:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 41
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/801 "2010-11-10T17:47:13Z")
I was watching _Airplane!_ the other day. I’ve probably seen it a dozen times. I never noticed before that when the reporters insisit on coming in and interviewing McCroskey and Hinshaw, holding microphones for them to talk into, one of them is actually an ice cream cone. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/802 "2010-11-10T20:15:09Z")
> [@Carptracker](#): > > In Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle”, the illegal religion to which everyone belongs has a tradition on which two people touch the bottoms of their feet together so that their souls can mingle. Years after reading that the first time and probably having read it a couple of times in between, I was telling a friend about the plot of the book and saying it out loud caused the peseta to fall. Souls=soles. D’uh. Doh! Wondered where he came up with that. Now it makes sense. > [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Why is everyone discussing the Winkies’ chant when the subject was supposed to be the flying monkies’ chant? Or did **NetTrekker** write the latter and mean the former? Because there is no Flying Monkeys’ chant? > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > That’s okay. It was a couple of decades before it occurred to me that the “KRP” in “WKRP” might somehow _not_ be meant to suggest “carp,” as Les said it did in one epsiode. Bah! NOW you tell me. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/803 "2010-11-10T21:38:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was watching _Airplane!_ the other day. I’ve probably seen it a dozen times. I never noticed before that when the reporters insisit on coming in and interviewing McCroskey and Hinshaw, holding microphones for them to talk into, one of them is actually an ice cream cone. I always thought it was a chicken leg… ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/804 "2010-11-11T03:04:06Z")
Okay, so even if you haven’t seen **Mystic Pizza** , you probably know that’s the one that starts with Lili Taylor and Vincent D’Onofrio’s wedding, which doesn’t happen because she has a panic attack and collapses at the altar. But what I didn’t notice until about the fifth time watching was that while she’s hyperventilating, he takes a long look over his shoulder, gauging the distance to the door. ETA: No, it’s an ice cream cone. ---
**Author:** ![Dennis3240](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@Dennis3240](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dennis3240)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/805 "2010-11-19T02:54:37Z")
tt ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/806 "2010-11-19T15:13:44Z")
_Family Guy_ is set in the city of _Quahog_. Their watering hole is called _The Drunken Clam_. Only took me about a thousand episodes to put those two together. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/807 "2010-11-20T19:37:07Z")
In the Disney version of _Pinocchio_, the personification of Pinocchio’s conscience has a name which is the sort of euphemistic corruption of the ejaculative “Jesus Christ!” that your auntie might use to avoid offending anyone when she finds a dead mouse in the cupboard. That’s fairly obvious, but it was a _long_ time before I clued in that this name was probably intentionally chosen to evoke the concept of Christian conscience. (What with me being all humanist and stuff and used to thinking of Christianity and ethics as discrete concepts.) ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/808 "2010-11-22T17:08:37Z")
… I never noticed that. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/809 "2010-11-23T04:42:43Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > That’s fairly obvious, but it was a _long_ time before I clued in that this name was probably intentionally chosen to evoke the concept of Christian conscience. (What with me being all humanist and stuff and used to thinking of Christianity and ethics as discrete concepts.) “Probably intentionally”? That’s an extraordinary claim. Have you anything to back that up? Collodi did use an unnamed cricket in his original story. You’d expect Disney to use a cutesy name derived from a common expression (and Disney altered the story almost beyond recognition, as well). Hell, how many people even know “jiminy crickets” is a substitution? I didn’t until I was an adult. How many people know “dickens” is altered from “devilkins”? “Dear me” from “Dio mio” (“My God” in Italian)? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/810 "2010-11-23T05:44:44Z")
In Macross, and in Robotech, the ace pilot’s name is Max. His signature jet is blue. Blue Max. What a horrible, horrible pun. > **[The Blue Max](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Max)** > > The Blue Max is a 1966 British war film directed by John Guillermin and starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Karl Michael Vogler, and Jeremy Kemp. The film was made in DeLuxe Color and was one of the last movies filmed in CinemaScope. The plot is about a German fighter pilot on the Western Front during World War I. The screenplay was written by David Pursall, Jack Seddon, and Gerald Hanley, based on the novel of the same name by Jack D. Hunter as adapted by Ben Barzman and Bas... ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/811 "2010-11-23T06:01:51Z")
It’s not really a creative work, it’s the name of the Beatles. I never put two and two together until just a few years ago… Oh DERRRRR the BEAT les. sheesh :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/812 "2010-11-23T06:13:46Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > “Probably intentionally”? That’s an extraordinary claim. Have you anything to back that up? > > Collodi did use an unnamed cricket in his original story. You’d expect Disney to use a cutesy name derived from a common expression (and Disney altered the story almost beyond recognition, as well). Right. The cricket lasted about half a page, not long enough to serve as a conscience. He started getting moral, and Pinnochio squashed him – literally. > [@](#): > > Hell, how many people even know “jiminy crickets” is a substitution? I didn’t until I was an adult. How many people know “dickens” is altered from “devilkins”? “Dear me” from “Dio mio” (“My God” in Italian)? Well, now I do! BTW, “blimey” means “God blind me.” ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/813 "2010-11-23T06:55:09Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > WHAT fell off? Augh–this thread is frustrating. Yes, there are a HELL of a lot of dopers here who inexplicably read “obvious” as “obscure artsy-fartsy plays on words that only they and a handful of other fans of X works actually GET”. GAAAAH, I’m still waiting to see if the A in Audi and the 2,4,6 stand for something other than Audi 2 cylinder etc. 'Cuz I’m with the other doper who stated (paraphrased) if they named their cars Audi Audi 4,6,8 cylinder, I’m heading for the tower with an Uzi. SHEESH. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/814 "2010-11-23T07:11:17Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > In Macross, and in Robotech, the ace pilot’s name is Max. His signature jet is blue. > > Blue Max. What a horrible, horrible pun. On _The Muppet Show_, the bass player for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem was named Floyd. Guess what color he was. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/815 "2010-11-23T12:54:45Z")
> [@](#): > > “Probably intentionally”? That’s an extraordinary claim. Have you anything to back that up? > > Collodi did use an unnamed cricket in his original story. You’d expect Disney to use a cutesy name derived from a common expression (and Disney altered the story almost beyond recognition, as well). Hell, how many people even know “jiminy crickets” is a substitution? I didn’t until I was an adult. How many people know “dickens” is altered from “devilkins”? “Dear me” from “Dio mio” (“My God” in Italian)? “Jiminy Crickets” is a mild euphemistic oath from the Midwest. It shows up in other Disney cartoons (look at _Peter Pan_, where Michael says it in the beginning). It certainly belongs to that class of “sorta based on Jesus Christ” euphemisms, because of the initials. Although there is a class of people who claim that “Jiminy” itself is a corruption of “Gemini” – Romans used to swear by the Gemini (especially women – see Colleen McCulloch’s _Makers of Rome_ series), and people with a classical education in the 19th century would have known that. No, I’m not making any of that up – I’m serious. The point is that “Jiminy Cricket(s)!” was a common Midwestern oath that Disney and his Kansas City Film Ad associates would have known. When seeking a name for Cricket from the Collodi book, it would have naturally suggested itself. I suspect that any Jesus Christ/conscience connection, if noticed or intended at all, would just have been gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/816 "2010-11-23T13:16:57Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > On _The Muppet Show_, the bass player for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem was named Floyd. > > Guess what color he was. [A rather blue shade of lavender](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Floyd_Pepper). ([Here he is from the second episode](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:102-12.jpg) just to prove his colouration wasn’t pinker in his earlier appearances.) He IS named for Pink Floyd (and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), but ‘pink’ is not nearly the word I’d use to describe his colouring. ---
**Author:** ![Short\_Guy\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@Short\_Guy\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy_1)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/817 "2010-11-23T13:24:39Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > [A rather blue shade of lavender](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Floyd_Pepper). ([Here he is from the second episode](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:102-12.jpg) just to prove his colouration wasn’t pinker in his earlier appearances.) > > He IS named for Pink Floyd (and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), but ‘pink’ is not nearly the word I’d use to describe his colouring. Actually, pink is exactly the word I’d use for that colour. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/818 "2010-11-23T14:19:41Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > On _The Muppet Show_, the bass player for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem was named Floyd. > > Guess what color he was. Oh, that one I knew. Didn’t know Janice was based on Keith Richards, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/819 "2010-11-23T18:30:51Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > [A rather blue shade of lavender](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Floyd_Pepper). ([Here he is from the second episode](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:102-12.jpg) just to prove his colouration wasn’t pinker in his earlier appearances.) I liked this bit from that first link: > [@](#): > > Floyd also has a certain influence on Animal, or at least as much as anyone can. In picture books such as The Case of the Missing Mother, or certain installments of the Muppet comic strip, Floyd is practically Animal’s keeper, pulling his chain and looking after him. That perfectly describes the bass player’s job 😃 I saw a line in an ad for some kind of bass guitarist equipment that said something like, “Without a bassist, there’d be nobody to translate between the drummer and the piano player.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/820 "2010-11-23T18:40:03Z")
> [@Short\_Guy](#): > > Actually, pink is exactly the word I’d use for that colour. Ditto. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=40) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=42)